Influence of
Non-Conductive Probes on Specific Absorption Rate

Sukhoon Oh1, Christopher M. Collins1

1PSUCollege of Medicine, Hershey, PA,
United States

Recently,
there are an increasing number of interventional studies in which minimally
invasive procedures are performed using MRI guidance using thin and precisely
controlled devices and sensors. The influence of non-conductive devices on
the specific absorption rate (SAR) in surrounding tissues are rarely
investigated compared to studies investigating safety issues of metallic
probes and devices. Here, we show that even non-conductive probes, in our
case fiber optic thermal sensors, can have notable effects on SAR. Numerical
calculations, based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method at 3
T, clearly show increased SAR around the non-conductive probes in a
conductive phantom.